


Lights Up The Skyline (To Show Where You Are)

by A_Taupe_Fox



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec Lightwood-centric, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Regency, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied Sizzy - Freeform, M/M, Pirates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, background clace, suicide ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:03:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21923359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Taupe_Fox/pseuds/A_Taupe_Fox
Summary: How one's soulmark appears is a gift. It's a sign from the universe, pointing a person towards the path that they will be on when they finally meet their soulmate.Alexander Lightwood is nearly 30, and even after all of the things he's done in his life, none of them have been worthy of making his soulmark appear.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 7
Kudos: 263
Collections: The Malec Secret Santa - Edition 2019





	Lights Up The Skyline (To Show Where You Are)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aelida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelida/gifts).



> I was given prompts of angst, soulmates au, smut, AUs in other eras, and a preference for Book!Malec.
> 
> I did my best to include as much of that as possible! I had a great time writing this,a nd I love the concept, so I really hope you like it!

There were many things that were common undertakings for those who had not yet manifested their soulmark. Indeed, it was fashionable for one to go on a grand tour upon one’s majority if they had not already found the manner in which they would find their soulmate.  
  
For, of course, the manner in which one’s soulmark appeared was equally as important as what the mark actually was. Whatever one was doing when their soulmark appeared was a portent: a direction, gifted by the universe to help the person pursue whatever life path would bring them to their soulmate.  
  
No matter what Alexander Gideon Lightwood did, _nothing_ made his mark appear.  
  
He did his best to cling to hope, and, at the age of thirty, became extremely adept at maintaining his patient façade in the face of his devastatingly unmarked skin.  
  
His siblings had gotten their marks in years ago, and Alec had been there for all of them. He had seen the magic of the colours slowly shifting to the surface of someone’s skin, and the inevitable joy as the person saw the mark of their soulmate. Jace’s soulmark had appeared one day when he had been playing piano in the early morning in the drawing room at Lightwood Manor.   
  
(Later, Jace would explain why it was _then_ that the mark appeared. As, for most of Jace’s life, piano had been a requirement, if not a weighted responsibility, attached to heavy strings of disappointment and punishment should his performance be less than exemplary in any way, but that morning, when the sun was shining in through the windows, Jace had been composing. It had been a new song, one for himself, and for the tentative, fragile happiness he’d found as the Lightwood’s ward. It was then, when his intention behind the piano had been of his own design, that the music was enough to call forth his soulmark.)  
  
(That was also why, when the crew had taken on a prize ship and found a piano forte in the hold, Alec had commanded it be taken to his quarters as the captain of the ship. He had then committed the sin of permanently affixing the piano to the wall of his cabin by whatever means necessary, but the reduced space and the lack of privacy that came from Jace’s frequent use of the instrument felt like no sacrifice whatsoever in the face of Jace’s happiness and his pursuit of his soulmate.)  
  
Isabelle’s mark had come from a distinctly more unorthodox venture, but Alec could only be grateful for that as well, as it was the event that had set Isabelle on a path that allowed her to accompany him out to sea.  
  
Alec was selfish enough to be honest with his happiness that he would never have to learn what it felt like to spend long months at sea without the company of his beloved siblings.  
  
Indeed, Isabelle was unsurpassed as a surgeon, never impeded by the limited supplies, equipment or surroundings. More than her sheer skill and ability, she had the vibrant, easy charm that made for a truly commendable bedside manner. It led to her being the ship confidante, as crew would come to her with everything from relationship trouble to medical advice for itching nethers.   
  
It was nearly unheard of for a woman to be a surgeon, and even more unheard of for a woman to be on a ship, but, of course, Isabelle’s soulmark had come in the day that she had been wading through Alec’s old clothes. Together, they had managed to locate some of Alec’s clothing from when he had been young and before he had gained the majority of his height. The plan had been to keep the clothing for Max, but Max had years before he would grow into the clothes, and Isabelle was _determined_ to go to university. She had done whatever it took to gain entrance - whether it was bribery, extortion, or simply asking favours from tutors who were willing to shirk the system in her favour.  
  
Isabelle Lightwood was hardly about to let something as foolish as her womanhood keep her from pursuing her dreams of further education. With Alexander’s help, she had cut her hair and learned about the current men’s fashion from the city. She had taken Alexander’s basics and staple pieces, and created a disguise good enough to go into the city and buy new clothes that were more fitting with the current style.  
  
It had been that first day, when her new clothes had been delivered and her disguise was complete that her mark came in. She had been standing in front of the mirror, making sure that her appearance was as flawless as it always was, no matter what her intention was, and then there had been that familiar light, the bloom of colour, and Isabelle’s path was set.  
  
Her mark had come in to encourage her in her plan to sneak into university to attend medical school - not that she had needed any encouragement: she was determined enough on her own, but even so, the universe had seen fit to push her down that path to keep her on the trail to meet her soulmate.  
  
Alec had no such luck.  
  
He had nothing.  
  
There had been so many moments, when he had _hoped_. Days when he had practically run home, desperate to strip his clothes off and inspect his skin, hoping for any hint that a soulmate would await him, somewhere.  
  
He had first thought, perhaps, he would be deemed worthy of a soulmate when he first accepted his commission into the navy. When that had proved fruitless, he had once again managed to find hope when he’d gained his first captaincy.  
  
Upon the realization that professional success was not the way to meeting his soulmate, Alec had turned to personal matters. He had been hesitant, at first, in choosing to express to his siblings the direction of his romantic inclinations, but he had been clinging to the hope that perhaps in speaking this truth aloud, he would prove himself to be worthy of a soulmate.  
  
His siblings had accepted him with open arms, embracing him in love and support.  
  
The universe had not been nearly as kind, and Alec’s skin had remained painfully unchanged.  
  
There were the secret things as well, the dangerous, inadvisable things that Alec had undertaken as his desperation grew. Alexander had a reputation for steadiness in the face of adversity, and a distinct propensity towards bending to the pressures of societal propriety.  
  
In public, at least.  
  
Despite what would be said should he ever be found out, however, he could not help his explorations of his desires. When he was younger, he had kept his silence about such things, laying more importance in the social capital of his family name than in his own personal happiness. Watching his siblings pursue their paths, encouraged by their soulmarks, had moved something within Alec. On his best days, it was inspiration: courage, burning within him, pushing him to step out of the strict lines of expectation and towards something more of his own making.  
  
On his worst days, it was envy. Bitter and dark, turning his blood into tar.   
  
The last thing that Alec wanted was to begrudge his siblings their hard-won happiness. However, there was nothing in that truth that could do anything to dull the echo of the hollow ringing within him. What must he do to be worthy of his soulmate? What was left that he had not already done?  
  
Alec had still been young the first time that he had allowed himself to reach for his own pleasure and admit to the truth of his yearnings. He had lain naked in his bed, slowly exploring the fantasies that he had previously denied himself. He let himself dream of the touch of another man, of what it would feel like to be touched by someone other than himself, to reach out and find answering masculinity, echoing his own wants.  
  
The weight of the thought had felt like comfort and recklessness, existing in some strange clash of equal and opposite, burning like a storm in Alec’s chest. He had taken his time, learning the feeling of his own body, responding to the truth of the shape of his love.  
  
After, when Alec had caught his breath, he had been nearly certain that it had been enough. He could _feel_ a difference within himself. Some fundamental component of his being had shifted, as if some gear that had previously been half a click out of rhythm had slotted into place.  
  
The sweet, sated relief of his afterglow was only matched by the dull, mouldering disappointment as he stood in front of the mirror, searching for any speck of the soulmark that he would not find.   
  
So Alec had tried again. He had tried with ice, lace, leather and metal. He tried candle wax and oysters and champagne and honey. He slipped out to illicit meetings. He joined card games and joined fox hunts, all in the company of those who also had proclivities of a certain persuasion.  
  
He had even abandoned his family for a season, telling them he was going to help a friend prospect a new shipping route, when instead he slipped out to the city in the dark of the night. What followed was a few months of every flavour of exploration that Alec could conceive of. He attempted teaching and business, as well as gambling, servanthood, and every manner of apprenticeship that he could find for himself. He spent a nights in opium dens, and boxing rings, and still nothing changed.  
  
He had found a natural aptitude towards hunting and trapping, stemming from his nearly instinctive excellence with a bow. He had hoped that perhaps his skill with archery would be enough, but even when he shot a hare at two hundred paces, his skin stayed the same hateful pale as it always had been.  
  
Now, as Captain of his own ship, and well-respected as a seaman and a leader, Alec found his life was a surface vision of success. Alexander, however, was nearly thirty, and in the quiet of the night, in the privacy of his own mind, it was devastatingly easy to admit that he was inescapably succumbing to defeat, and that the last dregs of hope were failing flickers that could only be seen when fair winds blew on the sunniest of days.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Alec, Jace and Isabelle had weathered many things together, and when Max was finally old enough to join them at sea, they had met the opportunity with unconditional joy.  
  
None of them ever suspected how everything would change with a single storm.  
  
  
Alec did not see when Max was washed overboard, but as soon as he spotted the familiar form being tossed among the waves, Alec had no hesitation in leaping from the ship and into the dark, churning water.  
  
  
The ocean was unforgiving, but Alec was determined. He dove into depths, and finally spotted his younger brother, sinking steadily towards the ocean floor. Alec’s chest hurt from holding his breath, and he knew he only had enough air to either reach Max, or swim back up to the surface. For Alec, it was never a question. Swimming hard, Alec ignored the fire in his eyes, the pain in his ears, the way that his body was screaming for air.  
  
The only thing that mattered was reaching Max.  
  
Alec’s hand had barely closed around Max’s wrist when the world lit up, bright with lightning.  
  
Suddenly, Alec felt as though he could breathe. Max’s eyes opened, glowing bright in the dark water of the ocean. Both of them were lit by the bright shifting turquoise of an untouched lagoon.   
  
When they looked, the light was coming from a soulmark, shining clear from Alec’s arm.  
  
  
Once they returned to the surface, they were quickly rescued by the crew and sent to Izzy to be checked out. Once she had declared them uninjured, she prescribed rest, which they easily agreed to.  
  
Alec never would have let himself fall asleep if he had known that when he woke up in the morning, his soulmark would be gone.  
  
***  
  
Lightning shot across the sky and thunder was loud enough that the windows rattled, and Isabelle could feel it through the floor. She sighed and forced herself to finish the explanation of the diagram on the page before marking her place and putting away the medical journal. She knew she would not be able to focus well enough to make it worth reading if the storm was going to be that loud.  
  
She was placing the book in its place on her desk when the realization caught up with her.  
  
A storm. _Lightning_.  
  
She dropped the book and went running, desperate to find where Alec was. She called for him, and there was no answer, and when she opened the door to his room it was empty. A sick feeling of dread filled her.  
  
“Alec!” She shouted again, even though she knew there would be no answer. She ran to the stairs, and found Simon halfway up them, ink-stained from whatever his latest missive was.  
  
“Isabelle? What’s wrong?”  
  
“Alec is missing.” She said grimly, before running past him to reach the main room.   
  
Clary and Jace were curled up together on the couch by the fire. They looked up as Isabelle clattered to the bottom of the stairs in her hard-soled boots.  
  
“Isabelle?” Clary asked. The look of Isabelle’s distress was enough to have Clary untangling herself from Jace’s embrace and moving to stand. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“Has anyone seen Alec?” Isabelle repeated her query.  
  
Understanding dawned on Jace’s features and he stood abruptly. “The storm.”  
  
Isabelle nodded, solemnly.  
  
Clary looked between them, clearly not understanding _why_ it was a matter of such urgency, but the clear depth of their consternation was enough for Clary to move past her desire for questions regarding context, and to focus on the clear goal of finding the oldest Lightwood.  
  
“I saw him get a dinghy out earlier today, but with the storm that’s come in, I’m sure he’s back by now.”  
  
Her words caused Isabelle and Jace to go pale.  
  
“We have to go,” Isabelle said, and the terror in her eyes was obvious. “We _must_ find him, and we must go _now._ ”   
  
No one argued. It took a few short minutes for everyone to gather their things and clothes appropriate for the journey at hand, but every moment spent was another moment of fear and worry, building in the hearts of everyone.  
  
They rushed out to the docks, which had been abandoned due to the wild winds of the raging storm. It took all of the skill that they had to find their own dinghy they would be able to take out for their rescue mission.   
  
Simon even decided to stay on land, sensing that this was a mission beyond his skillset. He was determined not to be a hindrance when speed and competence were clearly the top priorities. He helped them into the small boat and then passed over the long length of rope they’d brought with them, just in case it turned to the worst, and they were forced to go diving as part of their search.  
  
The waves rolled and the sky cracked, and Isabelle, Jace, and Clary rowed steadily outward to sea.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Alec stared at the oncoming clouds, finding a strange sense of peace. There was a hollowness within his chest, but it was lined with surety. This was his choice and his chance. His entire life had been failed attempts to get his soulmark to manifest.  
  
Now, when the closest thing that he’d ever seen to a glimpse of it had come from the night he was beneath the wild waters of a storm, too far into the depths to ever reach the surface, it seemed as though his only option left was this.  
  
The first drops of rain hit Alec’s face. He pulled the oars into the boat, securing them beneath the seats of the dinghy. The wind picked up, the boat began to rock in the waves, and Alec found the length of rope that he’d packed. He contemplated it, knowing both why he had brought it and also why he hesitated.  
  
The light, magical, turquoise blue that had lit up on his forearm that fateful day had only appeared when Alec had gone beyond his means to return. The other variable present that night had, of course, been Alec’s youngest brother Max, fallen overboard and sinking fast, no longer even fighting to swim.  
  
It was not a variable that Alec would allow to be recreated. Not for anything. If his soulmark only appeared when his family was in danger, then Alec would absolutely prefer to stay as he was, with his hatefully pale, unmarked skin.  
  
There was a wave large enough to nearly tip the dinghy, and Alec made his decision. He knotted the rope to a cleat on the side of the dinghy then tied the other end around his ankle. This way, even if he was not successful, if his sibling had to go searching for him… if they found him lost to the sea with the rope around his ankle, Isabelle would at least know that he did try to return.  
  
(He could not truthfully say that he would try to return to the surface, if he was honest with himself, but he was pragmatic enough to allow himself that option. Should everything go wrong, and his mark not appear, he would give himself the resources to at least attempt to save himself, even if he was not entirely certain he wished to continue on as he was.)  
  
With the rope knotted securely to his leg, the only thing left for Alec to do was to wait.   
  
The wind picked up and the storm grew in power, the sky dark and grey as ashes. When the boat nearly capsized, Alec fought his trained responses and let himself be taken over the side and into the water.   
  
The salt burned as Alec forced his eyes to stay open, and the current quickly pulled Alec down into the depths. His lungs burned and his ears _hurt_ as he plummeted deeper into the darkness of the ocean. Alec searched, looking desperately at his skin, for any sign of his soulmark. He struggled in the water, fighting with the confines of his shirt, cursing himself for not stripping naked before he’d leapt into the water. His vision was blurry and painful, but his skin remained the familiar, dull, pale tone that it had been all his life.   
  
Alec tore at his sleeves, finally managing to get his shirt off even as he fell deeper into the water and farther away from his ability to reach the surface, and there was nothing. No blue glow of a name that Alec had waited his entire life to see.  
  
The pain in his ears reached a piercing weight, Alec’s lungs were burning, and he had no mark to show for any of it. He fell into the dark of the ocean and _screamed_. There was no sound, no effect at all except for the salty water to flood his mouth. Alec’s mind understood the consequences of his actions but his body still fought, and he swallowed, the burning sting of the saltwater entering his lungs, phosphenes creeping into his vision.  
  
Through the panic of survival that had flooded Alec’s body, he forced himself to search, one last time, for any trace of his soulmark. There, just as his vision went dark, the bright, luminous blue once again lit up on his arm. Alec tried to fight, struggling anew, attempting to see the mark clearly, but it was too late. He could no longer fight the pull of the water and sank into the sea.  
  
  
***  
  
  
When Alec next opened his eyes… he was still underwater. The horrifying pressure was gone from his ears and the salt-sting was absent from his eyes, and even though he was somehow deeper into the depths of the ocean than he had ever been before, he had no trouble at all drawing breath.  
  
He groaned, and even that sound could somehow be heard through the water. Alec frowned in confusion and sat up, hissing at soreness caused by the motion. It was only soreness though. The stiffness of muscles that had been worked too hard but would easily recover with a day of rest.  
  
Alec had no idea how he was still alive.  
  
He stared at his hands for a while, then looked at his arm. The beautiful blue glow of his soulmark was vibrant against the white of his skin, and Alec let out a joyful shout, somehow in shock that his dream had come true.  
  
All of his decisions, any risk he’d ever taken, it was all worth it for it to end with him arriving in this moment in existence. Gently, he traced the mark with a fingertip, utterly entranced by the way the turquoise light of his mark seemed to shift with the ocean around him. He was so focused that he jumped when a hand settled on his shoulder.  
  
Alec turned, eyes wide, and was met with the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen in his entire life. The man before him was singular, with shining, dark hair that was just long enough to start floating in the water around him and well-formed muscles, flashing golden, cat-like eyes. His skin that seemed to shimmer and sparkle even as Alec watched.   
  
“Do forgive me,” the man said.  
  
The man’s voice was warm and welcoming. Alec nearly wanted to weep with joy from the sound of it.  
  
“I had wished to be here when you woke,” the man continued, “I apologize for causing any distress.”  
  
Alec shook his head, wanting to wave away any idea that he could possibly be distressed in any fashion by the situation he had found himself in.   
  
“Who are you?” Alec asked, reaching out, though not yet allowing himself to touch.  
  
The man looked amused, raising an eyebrow and smiling indulgently, glancing pointedly at the way Alec reached out, and the ever-so-small space between Alec’s fingertips and the man’s own chest.  
  
“I call myself Magnus Bane,” the man said, “I am not certain if you can read the mark on your arm, but–”  
  
“You’re my soulmate,” Alec said, summarizing the situation succinctly, but sounding dazed with awe at the same time.  
  
Magnus smiled again, and it lit up his entire face, his white teeth flashing brightly in the dark of the sea water.   
“It would appear to be so,” Magnus said in agreement, before finally taking pity on Alec and moving forward so that Alec’s fingers touched skin.  
  
Magnus had less hesitation in reaching out, first running his hand along the soulmark on Alec’s forearm and then moving to catch Alec’s chin in his hand.  
  
“What is your name, soulmate?” Magnus asked, kindly.  
  
“Ah– Alec.” The reply was a stuttering mess, but Alec was too entranced by the golden colour of Magnus’ eyes to notice.  
  
“Alec, or Alexander?” Magnus asked, and Alec shook his head as much as he could without dislodging Magnus’ grip on his chin.  
  
“Either– I don’t. It doesn’t matter,” Alec said, blinking up at Magnus, smiling and besotted.  
  
Magnus laughed and leaned forward to kiss Alec on the forehead, “well then, if it does not matter, I suppose I shall have to use both until a preference arises.” Magnus pulled away and looked Alec in the eye, and it seemed that it took only the merest second for all of the joy and humour to drain from Magnus’ countenance.  
  
“Alexander,” Magnus said softly, “my love. You should not have been down here. If I had not found you in time, you would have died. What possessed you to go out in a ship like that during a storm like this?”  
  
“I had to find you.” Alec said, unrepentant. He’d known the risks of his decisions, and if it had led to him being here, he knew he would never be able to find it within himself to regret.  
  
Magnus sighed and looked deeply, incredibly sad for a long moment. “I am sorry, then, that you felt you needed to come looking.”  
  
Fear flooded Alec at Magnus’ words. “Are– are you going to send me away?” He could not imagine anything worse than that. Terror flooded his mind, giving him images of Magnus explaining the reason Alec nearly had to die was because Magnus did not wish for a soulmate, or that Alec was somehow some kind of mistake.   
  
“Hush, my love,” Magnus’ voice broke through the mounting worry of Alec’s imaginings. “I would never, ever send you away. I have never been more happy than to find out that you have made your way to me.” Magnus’ other hand came up to stroke though Alec’s hair which was floating freely in the currents of the water. “Do not fret about such things,” Magnus said, “I have a soulmark as well. I have lived for a very long time without one, but now that I have, I would be very cross if I had to give you up.”  
  
Magnus looked at Alec and then kissed him on the forehead again. “Please, my love, _Alexander_. Know that you are wanted. I have never wanted anything more, in all my years of life.”  
  
Alec looked up at the gorgeous gold of Magnus’ eyes, and he had no end to the questions he wanted to ask, but with every strange, impossible breath that he took in this strange, underwater place, Alec knew that he would have time to ask any question that he could think of. For the moment, there was truly only one that was important.  
  
“Am I dead?”  
  
“No,” Magnus said, looking somehow both charmed and heartbroken at Alec’s question, “no, you are not dead. You are as alive and hale as you were when you rowed out here this morning.”  
  
Alec glanced down at his leg. The rope line that was attached to the dinghy was still tied around his ankle.   
  
“Is the storm still going?” Alec asked.  
  
Instead of a reply, Magnus’ eyes seemed to turn a brighter gold, and Magnus pulled his hand out of Alec’s hair and made some manner of incomprehensible gestures that Alec had no hope of being able to follow.   
  
“The storm is gone now,” Magnus said, once he was finished.  
  
“Did you– did you send it away?” Alec asked.  
  
Magnus simply smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Surely these are not truly the questions you had in mind for me.”  
  
Alec paused, considering Magnus’ words before he nodded in agreement. “Will you disappear again if I go back above water?”  
  
Magnus shook his head no. “Now that we have met, the bond is forged between us. It will allow us to accompany each other anywhere.”  
  
Alec wanted to smile, but instead he glanced upward. They were deep enough into the ocean that Alec could no longer even _see_ the surface. “My - my siblings. If they noticed I was missing, they would have gone looking for me, no matter what the weather.”  
  
Magnus looked up and then back to Alec, before reaching out to take Alec’s hand. “No one else entered the ocean during the storm.”  
  
Alec had no idea how Magnus could possibly know such information, but at the same time he believed entirely that what Magnus was saying could only be true.  
  
“You wish to go see them,” Magnus said, looking at Alec carefully.  
  
Alec nodded. “They– they’ve been worried about me.”  
  
“With good reason,” Magnus said, sounding thoroughly unimpressed.  
  
“It was the only way I knew how to find you,” Alec protested, looking up at Magnus.  
  
“For that I truly am sorry,” Magnus said softly, not engaging with Alec’s defensive stubbornness. “I promise it will not be that way in the future.”  
  
“Because we have the bond now?” Alec asked, wanting to make sure his understanding of the situation was accurate.  
  
“Yes,” Magnus said, confirming Alec’s guess, “but also because I did not know before, what it would be like, and now that I have realized– now that I have felt even a _fraction_ of the love you hold in your heart, I will never, ever leave your side unless I have no other options.”  
  
Alec stared, unsure of how to respond to such a sentiment.  
  
Magnus smiled again, then made another gesture, eyes glowing that incredible, molten gold colour. Once he was finished, he reached for the rope tied to Alec’s ankle. “Come along, then. I suppose it’s time for me to meet your family.”  
  
Alec moved then, guiding Magnus’ hand from the rope and to Alec’s own grasp, tangling their fingers together and squeezing tightly. “They will love you, just as much as I do,” Alec promised.  
  
Magnus leaned in and kissed him softly, _properly_ , drawing their mouths together in a soft, lush, endless kiss, that still somehow managed to be over in less than a breath. “I look forward to it, Alexander. Now, take me to meet your family.”  
  
It took Alec several moments to gather his wits back, even after Magnus pulled away. He knew they did need to return to the surface as soon as possible, as his family would be searching for him. He wanted to kiss Magnus again, but he did not trust himself not to get lost in kissing Magnus for the rest of eternity in this beautiful, magical, impossible place beneath the sea.  
  
Alec compromised by pressing a kiss to the soft skin on the back of Magnus’ hand. “You are my soulmate, Magnus,” Alec said softly, “I shall take you up to meet _our_ family.”  
  
Magnus looked sad and also wholly, unconditionally happy. “That sounds perfect, Alexander.” He squeezed Alec’s hand, “That sounds _perfect_.”

**Author's Note:**

> er, so. I hit the word limit, but keep an eye out, because there's Magnus-centric I companion fic in the works!


End file.
